Electric-light sign.



PATENTED MAR. 17, 1908.

M. NORDEN. ELECTRIC LIGHT SIGN. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 21, 1906.

. non'rmna UNITED STATES PAEENT OFFICE.

NORDEN, on NEW YORK.

N. Yk, ASSIGNOR TO THE ELECTRIC CARRIAGE CALL COMPANY, OF NEW XORK, N.Y}, A, CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ELECTBIWLIGHFI. SIGN.

- Speciflc'afion 01 Letters Patent.

Patented March 17,1908.

'A ppfication filed. Au u t '21, 1906. Serial No. 331,445.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MORTIMER Norman, a citizen of the UnitedSta-tesresiding at the borough of Manhattan, in t e, city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented an Improvement in Electric-Li ht Signs, ofWl'llOh the following is a spec' catlon. l

In carrying out my lnventlon I make use of A a shallow boxfor eachcharacter or letter of the sign, within which box are lamp sockets soarranged as to be ada ted to form a letter of the alphabet, numera orcharacter, and I rovide interchangeable lates having openings thereinadapted to t the lamps and so arranged as to exactly register with thesockets required to form the desired letter, numeral or character withan outline of walls forming the contour of the letter, numeral orcharacter attached to and projecting forward from the plates.

The boxes and the arrangement of the sockets therein may be such asshown in atcut to G. W. Enright, Oct. 27th, 1903, o.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a face view of a portion of acom leted sign.

Fig. 2 is a face view of one o the interchangeable plates. Fig. 3 is asectional View taken transversely. through the letter plate. Fig. 4 is afront View of a single character or letter box with the character orletter plate removed. Fig. 5 is a vertical cross section of the same,with a portion of one of the interchangeable plates in place, and Fig. 6

illustrates a character or letter plate in which ther ro'ecting outlineshell has straight walls.

arranged arallel rows of lamp sockets a, permanent y wired to conductorsa passing out through the base I). The arrangement of the sockets issuch as to produce any one of the letters of the al habet, a numeral orcharacter, and I prefhr the arrangement shown in Fig. 4, which is likethat shown in the Enright patent before referred to, although I do notlimit myself to this particular arrangement of the lamp sockets.

ably made of sheet meta oxes a have bases b, upon which are Slideways dare formed in the walls of the box a near the front and parallel to theback or base I). I make use of flat interchangeable plates e, havingopenin s l in them adapted to fit the lamps 9 an so arranged as toexactly register withthe sockets re- 1 uired to form the desired letter,numeral or c aracter, with marginal wallsformed from strips of sheetmaterial bent or out to shape and surrounding the openings and attachedto and projecting forward from the upper surface of the plates atsubstantially right angles thereto, said walls forming the contour ofthe letter, numeral or other character. These interchangeable plates 6embody the main features of novelty in this invention and slide into theslideways d, the openings inthe lates being arranged to exactly registerwit the sockets requlred to form the desired letter or character. Aftera letter plate 6 has been slidden into lace in the box I a, lamps g areinserted throug the openings Z in theplate and screwed into the sockets,registering therewith, so that the surface presented, shows only theletteror character desired.

The interchangeable lates e are preferbut may be made of any suitablesheet material. At the back of the walls of the letter outline, Iprovide flanges f by which the walls fare attached to the plates c,referably by solder or rivets.

It-is desirable to stiffen the front of the letter outline walls bybending over the outer edges thereof as shown. It is preferable to makethe walls f of the projecting letter or character outline flaring, asshown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, so thatthe letters may have a greaterapparent Width, but they may be made parallel throughout, as shown inFig. 6.

The advantages of the present invention are that the plates e may bechanged at pleasure while the wiring and terminal points remainpermanently fixed, and the visible surface of the letter, numeral orcharacter is very clearly delineated.

I claim as my invention:

'1. In an electric sign, the combination of a plurality of interchangeable plates, each havlng openings in the form of a letter, numeral orcharacter, and projecting Walls around said openings forming the outlineof the letter, numeral or character, substantially as minals, the coilbination of interchangeable plates havil g openings in the form of aletter of the alphabet and a Wall surrounding said openings and formingthe contour of the letter, attached to and projecting forward from theplate, and lamps attachable to said socket terminals through theopenings in said plate.

3. In an electric sign, the combination of lamp sockets adapted to bearranged to form a letter, numeral or other character, a plurality ofsubstitutable plates locatable before said lamp sockets and each havingopenings in the form of a letter, numeral or character,

seams and projecting Walls around said opehi 's forming thecontour ofthe letter, the o ings in said plates being in registry with lampsockets arranged to form 'a certain letter, numeral or character, andlamps attachable to said sockets through said openings in the plate.

Signed by me this second day of April 1906.

{la v1.16

MORIIMER NORDEN.

